


The Queen of Air and Darkness (-2)

by Kaggath



Series: Playing Against the Dealer [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Dromund Kaas, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 19:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17250050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaggath/pseuds/Kaggath





	The Queen of Air and Darkness (-2)

Kati’po had barely spoken to him lately. And on top of that, Zash was being downright suspicious.

“Secrecy is vital.”

“I would ask that you not bring your pirate companion. Your Dashade is fine, desirable even, given the sensitive nature of your bond to him.”

All that together sat with Andronikos about as well as a Wookie in an evening gown. Kat excluded, Andronikos trusted exactly none of those Sith. Zash was up to something. He could feel it in his gut.

First of all, she didn’t have a bond with that thing. It terrified her. Some kind of honor bound leash kept it in check, but Andronikos still slept with one eye open. No telling how far—or for how long—that leash would go.

Secondly, he didn’t like Zash telling her who she could and couldn’t bring along. Who was she to decide who Kat had a bond with, huh?

Crossed arms clenching taut like cables, Andronikos grumbled to himself. Who was he to think they had any kind of bond either. He was in too deep. Andronikos couldn’t just jump ship now, but obviously she’d lost interest.

Except…

He drew his blaster, looking down the sights. Good weight to the trigger, and powerful. Everything about it was perfect, and she’d known he needed it before he could even ask to take a trip to get some himself.

Must have been a Sith thing. He’d heard of them knowing and sensing things through the Force. Probably came in real handy in a fight, too. Real sweet of her to get these for him. He still hadn’t thought of exactly how to pay her back for them, but he’d promised. So he would. 

2V’s prattling signaled Kati’po was near, but there was no guarantee for how long. Now or never.

Before he could even break off his little leaning pace that’d become his home, she crossed the threshold into the bridge. Andronikos could see the unease tensing her shoulders.

“Take me with you?” The question came out a little rough, tattered around the edges. She met his eyes, and some of that tension released. 

“I…can’t. Zash says I need Khem for the ritual…and…” she trailed off.

“Well, then let me get you to the temple at least. I can bring up the rear, watch your back.” Pushing off the wall he stood up straight. “’Got a bad feeling about all this. I don’t want to be sittin’ around the ship hoping I’m wrong.” 

Kat gave him one of her sad smiles, but nodded yes. Whatever Zash had planned must be tearing her up. Andronikos didn’t get it, but he supposed he didn’t have to. As long as nothing happened to Kati’po and she didn’t get hurt, Andronikos would be okay with that.

And if something did happen, Sith or no, there’d be hell to pay. Andronikos would make sure of it.

Stepping out into the charged air of Dromund Kaas was like stepping into…well…he couldn’t quite place it. It felt like the storms were in his skin. One step onto the planet and Andronikos felt like he’d burst. It stole his breath and as a low, uneasy growl escaped him the planet ate it up like a hungry beast. 

Whipping wind lashed across his face, icy raindrops stinging his skin. Kat pulled her hood low across her face, but that couldn’t hide the grimace that strained her mouth. 

Andronikos had to get them out of here as fast as possible. 

 

Andronikos checked and rechecked his blasters, but he never met her eyes. Why did he tell her to bring him if only to continue to be distant? And what was the bad feeling he mentioned? Was it about her? Did he just want to keep an eye on the big, nasty Sith?

Well, she could show him just how nasty she could be, then.

The last time she came to Dromund Kaas she had been in search of one of those damned artifacts. She hadn’t yet met Andronikos. He hadn’t seen how awful…how twisted the planet was. Not yet. But if this was how he saw her, she may as well put on a show.

That’s all she was good for anyway, right?

The shuttle came to a stop, and Kati’po stomped out just as explosively as she felt. It seemed like a very Sith thing to do. Billowing beneath her robes, Kati’po felt like a storm given form. Water seeped into her robes, weighing them down as she slogged toward the temple. She could hear Andronikos struggling to catch up behind her, but the incessant itching of embarrassment and anger said let him. 

The whole planet seemed to shudder with chill and fear as Kati’po charged forward. She felt herself baring her teeth as they approached the writhing workers, possessed and beyond hope. She didn’t feel like herself, but she let the anger swell inside her. She hurt. She’d been dragged across the galaxy for reasons not her own, and had been once again a puppet with an icy hand gripping her spine.

The hot sting of her tears battled with the cold rain across her face as she stopped to survey the partial jungle boiling with the tormented and the dead.

“Ready,” Andronikos said beside her, blasters drawn, body tense. Kati’po inspected him. 

The heavy rain made his clothes cling to his body in a terribly beautiful way. It stung that he couldn’t trust her, because otherwise she may have found the determined set of his jaw handsome. Suppressing a shiver as she tore her gaze from him, leading the way to the temple.

 

Kati’po was fighting like Andronikos had never seen before. If anything, it energized him. He may not need to protect her, but damned if he didn’t want to impress her. Somebody that kind and fierce, beautiful and deadly and amazing…that was the kind of person Andronikos admired. 

As they advanced, though, things began to fall apart.

“Gimme your best shot!” he felt himself screaming as he tore into another group of…whatever they were. Might have been human once, but the swirling smoke and glowing gave away that something had eaten them from inside, taken over. Something sinister.

From behind him he could feel Kat getting ready to cast some Sith Force power. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. A primal kind of fear told him to run, but he held his ground. Hell rained from the sky as electricity seized the group. All of them. The range of the storm ended just meters before him, but even from there the electric cackling in the air made his blood run cold.

“Why did you attack them?” Kati’po spat at him as their bodies fell with a squelch into the mud.

“They were in our way? Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing here?” Andronikos turned to her incredulously. The strange, simmering anger that had been building since they arrived turned its claws toward her, but Andronikos set his grip upon it. He wouldn’t lash out at her. He was a better man than that.

“I was trying to sneak around them!”

“Well you’re the mind reader here, not me, Kat!” He grimaced. It came out more acidic than he meant. Why was it so hard to just talk to her?

“Mind reader? You think that because I’m a Sith? ‘Oh, dirty, manipulative Sith is going to do something bad, better keep an eye on her!’”

She wasn’t talking like herself. Lightning reflected in her eyes as the storm around them swelled and her chest heaved. Swallowing hard, he tried to ignore the anger, yes, and certain…baser instincts. She wasn’t someone he wanted mad at him. Now was not the time to linger on the beauty of her violet eyes, her coral skin…

Shaking his head, he tried to focus.

“Well, a little? Not the manipulation part, ryshcate—woah woah woah!” Andronikos backtracked as she took an angry step toward him. “These things,” he said, motioning toward the blasters she’d given him.

Kat cocked her head in confusion, but she didn’t shock him. A good sign.

“I never asked for ‘em but you brought ‘em right when I was gonna. I’m not keeping an eye on you, I’m keeping one out for you!”

After seeing what she was capable of it was hard to tell where the storm ended and Kati’po began. Lightning arced across the sky, and she was the electricity in the air. She was the rain that fell in rivulets across his cheeks and the heartbeat that jumped to his throat. She was the chill on the wind that cut to his bones. She was everything.

His voice was lost in the never ending thunder. It felt like the whole planet had swallowed him up. There she was, just out of reach. Bright purple eyes looking into him like she could see his whole life and everything he’d tried to kill in him for as long as he could remember. He could never hide from her, and he didn’t want to.

Finally, there was a lull in the storm, and Andronikos couldn’t tell if the rain had let up, or if she had done it, but when Kati’po spoke at last, he didn’t have to strain to hear her.

“I got them for you so you wouldn’t think I was a monster.”

All at once everything came crashing forward. The rain, the thunder, her lips and body pressed against his. She hit him like a freighter and he tensed for a moment, dumbfounded, before pulling her into him. In the biting cold she was a fire under his hands and across his lips.

 

He tasted like freedom. It didn’t matter that she was covered in blood and rain. She didn’t have to frame her lekku around him just so, for the gaze of an audience. It didn’t matter that she was caked in mud to her calves.

Breaking away, Kati’po ripped her glove off with her teeth before pulling him back into her. She felt his stubble prickle under her thumb, felt his heart racing beneath her lips. It didn’t matter what they looked like.

It mattered that it felt good.

Thunder crashed like the end of days around them. It enveloped them. They were alone on this wild planet and nobody could stop them.

She didn’t want to stop. She didn’t want to let go of the feeling of their storm drenched bodies pressed together. She’d acted through thousands of kisses, but never once had it meant a thing. Is this what the Sith Code was talking about? Was this passion?

Kati’po could see herself fighting for this. Growing stronger and accumulating power to protect it. To protect him.

She realized how funny it was thinking about her being the one protecting him. As she smiled she felt him smiling back into her, teeth grazing her lower lip.

As she pulled back, Kati’po saw the rain clinging to his eyelashes.

Lightning struck with the realization that they couldn’t stay forever. The storm began anew, and turmoil churned inside her.

Whatever Zash needed all these pieces of junk for, for whatever reason she needed Khem, Katipo would know soon. All this running around the galaxy and talk of dreams and destiny—not to mention warnings from alleged ancestors from beyond the grave—all would be over soon.

With whatever mysterious goal of Zash’s met, and Kati’po already a Lord, maybe she’d finally be done with the worst of Sith life. She wasn’t extraordinary. What other use could she serve once this ridiculous Darth’s curiosity was quenched?

Maybe, just maybe…she and Andronikos could fade into obscurity, leaving the galactic stage to the endless and endlessly ambitious. Would they really notice one stray Lord out of place?  
Just like everything leading up to this moment, Kati’po would weather it. She would survive.


End file.
